A New Year

2009 Wow. Another year gone, another year here. It seems like not too long ago that we were ringing in 08. A lot of things happened over this past year, and part of me is glad it's a new year.

A lot of good things happened...weddings, new babies, 1st black president...and yet a lot of pain was experienced too. One thing I can say about 08...it was definitely an eventful year. Of the 25 years I've been alive, I think this has been the most trying and yet most growing I've ever done as a woman of God.

I have never been really good at the whole "resolutions" thing. I wish I was better at them, but I never seem disciplined enough to stick with it. There are many things I think I could grow in, many areas I could become more disciplined in, etc, etc. blah blah blah, right? :)

Seriously though. I do think 2009 will be a big year. And the thing I want this year to be about? Taking risks. Stepping out in faith. Isiah 40:31 says,
"But those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

This scripture. I want to live in that hope. To soar on wings like eagles....to live in hope that I can do all things because I have hope in the Lord. Hope means to place confidence in. To trust God completely. This is my one and only resolution.

What are your new year resolutions?

Check out a few of my favorite pictures over the past year....God bless you all!:

Joy

The past couple of months, I have been searching for a new church. This weekend, I chose to visit one I hadn't ever been to called Community Christian Church. Thankfully, I have a good friend, Maria, whom has been more than happy to go with me. It's kind of hard going to church by yourself, especially if you don't know anyone. The church has different locations, so we chose to go to the Pilsen campus.

So yeah, I really enjoyed it. Of the churches I have visited lately, I defintely liked this one the best. Since it's so close to Christmas, the pastor has been doing a series called Advent. Advent is defined as either "the season including the four Sundays preceding Christmas" or "the second coming." As part of the advent season, he talked about Joy today.

Joy. The angel came to the shepherds saying, "behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be brought to all people." JOY. We have great joy because Christ came to earth.

So, this question I must ask you all. Are you living a joyful life? Joy is different than happiness. Happiness is brought on by circumstances. Joy is brought on by our emotional well-being. One person said this, the opposite of happiness is unhappiness, while the opposite of joy is fear. What does the bible say about fear? "There is no fear in love. For perfect love cast out all fear." And God is love.

When you think about a joyful person, who comes to mind? How would you describe that person's life? Would you say that they got it all together? I wouldn't. I would say, though, that no matter what happens, they have a trust and faith in God that brings them true joy.

"The joy of the Lord is our strength." In his presence is the fullness of joy. Have you ever really thought about that verse? Joy is strength? What does this mean to me, as a woman of God who is constantly seeking to grow in Christ? Where does my strength lie?

I have come to realize I wouldn't exactly describe myself as "joyful." My emotions seem to be determined by my circumstances. When things go wrong at work, do I thank God that I have a job, one that I absolutely love, or do I complain that things aren't perfect? When I'm all alone on a weekend, do I feel lonely or do I rejoice that I have a God who will never leave nor forsake me? I could go on and on about the promises of God and how so often I either choose not to trust in them or I just don't fully understand them. Either way, I believe that so often, I live in a state of "fear" which is the opposite of Joy. And so often, I am a person affected completely by my circumstances.

My challenge for myself as well as you is that you will choose to live a life of Joy. Choose to believe in his promises that his joy is our strength. To be reminded that only Christ can give us real joy. So often people feel the voids in their lives by seeking "happiness" in things, like relationships, addictions, busywork, ect...always seeking to find that ultimate source of happiness. Yet, this is not the life God calls us to live. Jesus came so that we may have an abudant life, a full life. The only way to have that life is through Him. The only way to have that ulitmate joy is through him. Even as a Christian, I sometimes seek that happiness in other things. What about you? Do you seek Christ above all or do u find yourself trying to become happy by other means?

I seek Christ. In all I do, in all that I am. I choose to believe the joy of the Lord is my strength. I choose to believe that Christ is all I need or have. And as I live each day, seeking his face instead of my own needs, I hope that I will choose to not complain but to realize that my circumstances can not determine who I am.

I hope as we go through this busy Christmas season, we will stop to remember why we really celebrate Christmas. We will remember that the angel's news was of "great joy" which was Christ Jesus our Lord being born. As we become overwhelemed by the traffic and busyness in the parking lots of stores, money spending and worrying over what gift to buy whom, or even how we will spend our holidays...stop and remind yourself of this great joy Christ came to give us. Stop and remember that the best gift we could ever have received was the price paid on the cross.

I am praying that I will. I have a full week, long work hours, over-sugared and over-excited kids, and the anticipation of going home...all of these things are "cirucmstances" that could, if I let it, determine how I will act or feel. Choose this day. How will I act today? Will I live a life of joy this Christmas season? I hope so.

And I hope you do too.

rawrrrrrr

God bless you all!

Christmas

Merry Christmas bloggers! It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Arkansas. I am sitting here, wanting to write this post but I have a million thoughts running through my mind right now. A million that all circulate around the real meaning for Christmas. This whole commercialized idea of Santa Claus is fun and bring many people around the world happiness-but for what? For one day, then we all head back to the real world-the work force, school, or whatever else humans do. The real meaning of Christmas is not for just one day. The real meaning of Christmas is joyous and a daily living experience. For the real meaning of Christmas is love. God's love for us in sending his only son and Jesus' love for us in becoming sin so that we will no longer be slaves to this world. It's awesome to see how nice people become around Christmas, all of sudden people are buying gifts for the less fortunate, parents are actually spending time with their kids, and men and women around the world actually seem...happy. Smiling, laughing, giving...all these are great and wonderful. Can you imagine, though, if people were this way all the time? If we could have Christmas every day of the year? These ideas of helping people who dont have anything? These ideas of spending time outside of work with your family? The idea of smiling at people walking down the street? God is love, Jesus is love, Christmas is love. Oh, how I wish that people could realize that this love is available to EVERYONE, EVERYDAY regardless of how "naughty or nice" you've been, regardless of how much money you spend on presents, or how many presents you buy for the poor. This love, this feeling of JOY is ours, ours to treasure and ours to give. If everyone could spread a little "Jesus Cheer" all the time...would the world be different? Would people be changed? I love Christmas. I love spending time with my family. I love singing Jesus happy birthday. I love seeing my neice's beautiful face light up when she opens presents. I love seeing my mamaw smiling as we all gather around her kitchen for dinner. I love getting a new pair of pjs every Christmas eve. Everything about Christmas brings joy. Everything reminds me of what the true meaning of Christmas really is...love. Love that can only come from my Lord and Savior, for without Him, we would have no Christmas. Sure, maybe we'd have a Santa Claus and jingle bells playing on all the radios, but that isn't Christmas.

May you enjoy Christmas to the fullest. And, although it's easy to get all caught up in the presents and good food-may you take time to thank our Lord for coming to earth all those years ago so that someday we could experience true joy, a joy that only comes from knowing Him and the one true gift-salvation.

Christmas

Oh my goodness...I know I just published another post a little while ago, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I can not believe that I am so blessed to be apart of Breakthrough Ministries. They do so much for the community. Granted, these past 8-10 days have been crazily busy because of prep for Christmas, but oh my gosh the things Breakthrough does for the East Garfield Park Community. For example, I worked around 12 hours today sorting, counting, and pricing items for the "Christmas Store." As I walked around today and just looked at all the stuff that people had donated (new of course) or we had bought (with donated money) it brought me to tears. I can't believe how much Breakthrough does to help our community out. See what we do is we buy or get donated items and resale them marked down like 80%...and all the procedes go to our youth's "earn while you learn" program. The Christmas store sales everything from towels, to cd players, to drills, to even microwaves. And everyone from the women/men in our shelter to anyone in the community can come shop in it. The amount of items we have for the store just absolutely blows me away. Tomorrow is the store and then tomorrow night, we are having a "Christmas Celebration" for our youth and their families. We are having food and some of our kids perform (essay reading, choir, praise dance...). Its a great time for the parents to come and see what we've been up to lately.

Oh, and the Christmas party for the kids was a big success. We only had a few who were upset about their gifts. Most of them were so excited they squealed and smiled and ran around showing off their presents! I took lots of pictures so hopefully i'll be uploading them soon to here!

Anyways, if you ever want to donate to a ministry or non-profit organization that is really doing some awesome and amazing things in their communities...check us out at Breakthrough. It is unbelieveable and humbling to me of all that we do! I love it and love seeing how much Jesus is working through us to change our community!